Never Say Never

One

ERIN P.O.V.

"Fuck you, Erin!" I heard from the other side of the bathroom door, I'd just knocked on.

With a disgusted growl I screamed, "No, thanks, Chad! I have no doubt you're a walking STD. Now get the hell out of the bathroom, so I can use it! Chloe and Coral will be here any minute!"

The bathroom door was suddenly wretched open and a very tall, very wet Chad Tucker stepped out, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. I'd seen him in his boxers before, so this shouldn't be any different, but it was. One wrong move and that towel could drop, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination. Not that I'd ever imagined Chad Tucker naked before. Nope. No way.

The smirk on his face told me he'd guessed my train of thought, which was not good. I'd known Chad Tucker forever and if he sensed a weakness, he'd pounce for sure. Luckily, my brother stepped out into the hall and growled, "For fuck sake, would you two stop arguing for ten seconds?  I wanted to get a nap in before the party."

I continued to glare at Chad, as I said, "It's not my fault pretty boy here takes so long in the bathroom. My friends will be here any second and I'm nowhere near ready!"

Chad chuckled, "It's not my fault it takes you forever to get ready. Did you ever stop to think why it takes you so long? I mean, I know girls who can roll out of bed ready to go."

I sucked in a breath, hurt more than I'd ever admit, as I asked for clarification, "Did you just call me ugly?"

Chad, the asshole, simply shrugged and said, "If that's how you took it."

Without another word, I went around him, careful not to touch him, and slammed the bathroom door.  How dare he?  Yes, Chad and I butted head all of the time, but he'd never been outright cruel like that.  Ugh, living with my brother and his best friend could be such a pain in the ass sometimes.

I could hear quiet words being exchanged on the other side of the door, but chose to ignore them. With any luck, Eric was chewing his best friend's ass for hurting his sister's feelings, but I doubted it. Eric and I were fairly close, but not that close. There were two years between us and he hadn't been exceptionally happy when I'd decided to attend Highland University, right alongside him. When Dad, who was paying for this house, found out, he made Eric kick out their third roommate and move me in instead. I'd quickly learned why Eric wasn't happy for me to join him. Apparently, his bedroom door may as well have been a revolving door. Word traveled fast around campus and my brother was, apparently, notorious with the ladies. As was, Chad, according to the grapevine.

With a sigh, I surveyed myself in the mirror. What did people see when they looked at me? I was average height with average brown hair. In that moment, with Chad's words fresh in my mind, I felt very average. Hoping a shower would rejuvenate me, I stepped under the warm spray and prayed it would loosen me up. I was going to be attending my first college party tonight and I wanted it to go well.

My tension was just starting to lesson when a loud fist pounded on the door and I heard Chad yell, "Your friends are here!"

I sighed and turned off the water. I towered off, wrapped a towel around my hair and then grabbed my robe, from behind the door. When I opened the door, I hadn't expected Chad to still be standing there, so I ran right into him. His hands automatically went to my waist to steady me and my hands rested on his still, very bare chest. I heard his surprised gasp and then felt his fingers flex, gripping my hips more tightly.

Stunned by this turn of events, I slowly looked up at him and could barely swallow past the lump in my throat. What the hell was happening? Why wasn't he stepping back, now that we'd recovered from our collision? Why wasn't I stepping back? Why had his chocolate brown eyes darkened even further and why were they looking at me like that? If I didn't know better, I'd think he wanted to rip my robe off my body.

"Erin! You're nowhere near ready!" Chloe suddenly appeared and I jumped back, hating the blush that I knew graced my face. With my head down, I walked past Chad, grabbed Chloe, and headed for my room, shutting us inside. Chloe burst out laughing, "I thought you said that you and Chad hate each other. You two looked pretty cozy out there."

Coral, who had been lounging on my bed, flipping through a magazine, gasped, "Really?"

I sighed, "I have no idea what the hell just happened, but before I entered that bathroom he made me feel ugly. So, it doesn't really matter what just happened. What needs to happen now is, I need you to make me into the sexiest me possible."

I hadn't known Chloe and Coral Collins very long. We'd met during freshman orientation only a month ago, but I could instantly tell the twins would be my lifelong friends. There is just some people you instantly click with. Right now, the tall, willowy, gorgeous blonds were giving me identical looks of surprise. Then they quickly took over and I completely gave up all control.

Coral had been dying to cut and style my hair, so I handed her a pair of scissors. She clapped excitedly before cutting my ass-length hair into a shoulder length bob. Chloe did my makeup and then we stood in front of my closest. My dad's family was loaded, so I had a full walk-in closet. I hadn't even worn half of what was in there. Coral gasped and pulled out a little red dress that I wasn't even aware I had.

"Is that a shirt?"  I asked,  hopefully, considering how small it was.

Chloe laughed, "No, that is a sexy mini-dress and will be sure to make that asshole out there eat his words."

I debated for about ten seconds and then nodded, "Alright, lets do this."

Ten minutes later, after the girls talked me into the barely there dress and four inch matching heels, we walked out of my room. Chad and Eric were lounging in the living room and both glanced up. Their eyes widening and Eric snapped, "You're not going out like that."

I laughed, "I believe I am."

"What would Dad say?"

I paused, my anger spiking, "Seriously, Eric? We've never ratted each other out before. Are you seriously going to start now? I'd think long and hard before you do, because who do you think has a long wrap sheet?" 

What I didn't say was that dad probably wouldn't give a shit.  He'd always been an absentee father, throwing money our way, instead of affection.  He hadn't even attended mom's funeral two years ago.  He had paid for her cancer treatments, at least, but his presence would have been nice.  Then, when she lost her battle, he had just hired a live-in nanny to come take care of me until I turned eighteen, as Eric had already been eighteen at the time.

Eric cursed, "Fine, but if somebody knocks you up, don't ask for my help."

I snorted, "Duly noted."

"Let's roll!" Coral announced, amusement clear in her voice, which made me look at Chad again, for some reason. He no longer looked surprised, but I couldn't read his current expression. He almost looked like he was in pain, which was freaking awesome. He's been a prick to me for years, so if I could make him uncomfortable, even just a little, then I was completely on board. So I followed my friends out and if I swayed my hips more than necessary, so be it.